"Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included," the network said in a statement to ET on Tuesday. "To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central."

Trevor himself addressed all the criticism with a tweet on Tuesday that echoed his network's statement. "To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn't land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian," he wrote.

Earlier in the day, he also tweeted, then deleted, "Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter."

While these tweets were deemed offensive by some, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has Trevor's back. "We welcome Trevor Noah to his new endeavor at The Daily Show and wish him success," the group said in a statement. "We understand that comedians often use humor to poke fun at stereotypes and to push the envelope of political correctness, and it seems that many if not most of the tweets sent by Trevor Noah over the years fall into those categories."

The statement continues, "We hope he will not cross the line from legitimate satire into offensiveness with jokes calling up anti-Semitic stereotypes and misogyny."

Fellow South African Charlize Theron also supported the comedian's new gig, tweeting: "Big congrats to fellow South African @Trevornoah!! I can't wait to see your talent shine on @TheDailyShow!"

The Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi was another celebrity to come to Trevor's defense. "The guy made some sort of, you know, off-color, irresponsible tweets, but he was trying to be funny," Mandvi told LinkedIn exec editor Dan Roth. "I think the millennials understand this more than the people who are sort of upset about this."

Trevor, who appeared on Comedy Central's political satire show only a handful of times before landing the coveted new Daily Show position, has already been given Stewart's blessing.